Artificial Intelligence: What Could It Mean for Your Company's Accounting and Finance Function?

"Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence… but what will it actually change for my company's accounting and financial management?"

Artificial intelligence has become an increasingly prominent topic over recent months. New tools emerge every week, and announcements continue to highlight the productivity gains they could deliver, as well as their potential impact on business organization and the evolution of certain professions.

For SME business leaders, it is not always easy to distinguish between media hype and the developments that are likely to have a genuine impact on their business.

A first step is already underway in many organizations: the automation of accounting processes, which we discussed in our previous article on accounting automation. The question now is what artificial intelligence could change beyond automation itself.

Although it is still difficult to assess the full impact of artificial intelligence on the Accounting and Finance function, early applications and ongoing software developments suggest that it could fundamentally reshape certain working methods and organizational practices.

An Evolution Beyond Automation

For many years, businesses have gradually automated a range of administrative and accounting tasks, including invoice digitization and posting, bank reconciliations, journal entry integration, anomaly detection, and management reporting.

Artificial intelligence appears to mark the next stage in this evolution.

Beyond automating repetitive tasks, it is already assisting finance teams with data processing and analysis, information retrieval, accounting reviews, and the preparation of summaries. These capabilities are becoming increasingly common as organizations adopt new technologies.

In other words, its value no longer lies solely in executing predefined tasks, but also in making financial information easier to process, analyze, and use.

The way users access information is also changing. Until recently, obtaining a financial figure required knowing where to find the information and how to extract it. Today, a question asked in plain language can quickly generate a written response. Financial information is therefore becoming accessible to a much wider range of users, rather than remaining the preserve of those with technical expertise.

An Accounting and Finance Function Set to Evolve

If these developments continue, they could allow Accounting and Finance teams to devote less time to repetitive operational work and more time to analysis, performance management, and supporting management decision-making.

The objective is therefore not to replace Accounting and Finance professionals, but to gradually reshape the nature of their roles.

Professional expertise, judgment, critical thinking, experience, an in-depth understanding of the business and its environment, the ability to weigh different options and to support strategic decisions will remain essential human capabilities.

After all, a business is far more than a collection of data.

Its history, culture, people, market, constraints, strategic objectives, and relationships with customers, suppliers, banks, and other stakeholders all influence daily decision-making.

These decisions will continue to rely on a comprehensive understanding of the organization, years of accumulated experience, and the discernment of business leaders and their advisers.

The Real Challenge: Organization

Artificial intelligence is not simply about implementing new software.

Its effectiveness will also depend on the quality of the underlying data, the reliability of existing processes, and the organization of the business itself.

Incomplete information, poorly documented procedures, or inconsistent data will inevitably limit the expected benefits.

For this reason, integrating artificial intelligence into the Accounting and Finance function should primarily be viewed as an organizational transformation project.

It will also require companies to reconsider roles, responsibilities, and employee development in order to fully benefit from these new technologies.

Key Takeaways

✓ Artificial intelligence is likely to reshape working methods and practices within the Accounting and Finance function.

✓ Its potential extends well beyond the automation of repetitive tasks and could strengthen analytical capabilities, advisory support, and business performance management.

✓ The benefits achieved will depend as much on organizational readiness as on the technology itself.

✓ More than simply a technological innovation, artificial intelligence could represent the next major stage in the transformation of the Accounting and Finance function.

Afine Conseil supports SME business leaders with projects involving the organization, digitalization, and transformation of their Accounting and Finance function, helping them progressively integrate the changes brought by artificial intelligence in a way that is fully aligned with their business needs, objectives, and organizational structure.

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